Sierra: Prototype

Just who is Alex Mercer? The protagonist of Radical Entetainment’s Prototype, is as mysterious as he is powerful. Here is a guy who wakes up with the ability to destroy small armies yet he doesn’t know who he is. As a military target, he’s like vapor. As video game hero, he can be just as elusive.

Sometimes I think he’s like the Agent in Crackdown but my mind changes as he mercilessly pounds a soldier into raw meat. At times, he reminds me of Superman with the agility to leap tall buildings but then he changes forms like the X-men villain Mystique.

It’s obvious there’s a backstory there so I asked executive producer Tim Bennison about how the team came up with the character. It didn’t take long to answer, and Bennison pointed to three influences I wasn’t expecting.

The first was Star Wars’ Darth Maul. He described how the fan favorite was the embodiment of pent up rage and how he released it in the 15 minutes or so of screen time. The second guy was Travis Bickle, Robert De Niro’s character in Taxi Driver, the guy known for the “You talking to me?” line stood out among the hustle and bustle of crowds.

Finally, the third person in Mercer’s character DNA is Hannibal Lecter. Bennison says the serial killer in Thomas Harris’ novels was brilliant, and the game’s anti-hero shares that trait as well along with some consumption issues.

What all these people have in common is that they’re all a little crazy. Some of them (Bickle) are more so than others. But there has to be some insanity involved when you’re dealing with a superpowered being who can sprint as fast as a car, run up the sides of building as if gravity never existed and can consume his foes and turn into them.

All these abilities come into play as Mercer goes through the game’s levels and searches for his most treasured asset — his identity. To get it, he’ll have to battle the Black Watch Special Forces, who are looking for him, and a legion of infected inhabitants infected with the same virus he has.

Prototype looks like Crackdown albeit with an intriguing premise. There’s that over-the-top action. You can literally body surf ie. jump on a guy and grind him into the concrete like skateboard and leap across buildings. In terms of combat, there’s melee and gunplay with each ability being upgradeable.

But when it comes down to it, what separates this title from others is the Deceive or Destroy gameplay, and this is where the shape-changing comes in.

As the Manhattan is turned into a war zone, Mercer will have to move through and accomplish missions amid the confusion between the Infected and Black Watch Special Forces. Although he’s godlike, Mercer still can’t take on the military by himself so he has to choose his battles carefully.

At times, he’ll have to infiltrate bases by turning into a commanding officers. Other times, he’ll have to fight off the troops to get into an obstacle.

While in disguise, Mercer can sometimes give himself away by jumping 10 feet. If he’s identity is given away, he’ll have to flee before reinforcements shows up, and later, reapply a costume. It’s an interesting concept that brings and ebb and flow to the gameplay and works off the superhero motif, but I imagine, it could get repetitive as players search through an open world for the perfect spot to transform.

Elsewhere, there a couple of nonfighting abilities that Mercer has. They include the ability to change his vision to look for heat signature or search for infected. There’s also the ability to control tanks and helicopters that will be scattered throughout the game.

To get all of Mercer’s story, players will have to locate and consume around 150 web targets that have experiences related to him. Once Mercer absorbs them, he gains their memories and could find an answer to his past.

As I’ve said before, Prototype is an ambitious title. There’s a lot to do and see in Radical Entertainment’s open world, but if the developers can nail that core Deceive or Destroy gameplay, then this game could be one of the better titles to come out this year.